Search - Cole Porter :: It's De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection

Disappointing, not delovely, collection

Eironic | 10/04/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps I should have read the print on the back more closely when I bought this on a whim. I should've known what to expect from Sonny Rollins or what they meant by "period performances" (i.e,. performances in the style of a period, but not necessarily from the period). So I got what was coming to me.



Nonetheless, I still feel cheated. This collection isn't what it appears to be, from the front cover, to the back blurbs, to the liner notes. It's a very uneven hodge podge of various recordings of Porter songs by a pretty wide assortment of artists. For too many tracks, these aren't "authentic" interpretations reflective of the period Porter and wrote and lived in, but typical "jazz standard" types of interpretations more reflective of the performing artist's own period. And don't be fooled (like I was) by seeing Cole Porter's name listed as the recording artist for two tracks - yes, those are his vocals, but the backing band is a contemporary band who've re-recorded the band section in a "period performance" style. It makes for a "cleaner" sound overall, but any one with a discerning ear will likely find the sonic incongruency between the '34 recording of Porter's voice and the '04 recording of the band too irksome.



And that's just one of several problems with this CD. It's not that these are bad performances - they're not. It's just that as a collection, they're not reflective of what the CD packages tries to tell you they are. For example, Sonny Rollins' hard bop era rendition of one of Porter's most beloved songs, "It's Delovely," is solid as anything Rollins did at the time. But it's hard bop, not swing, and it's instrumental, not vocal. So you get Rollins' wicked sax noodling, but not Porter's charming and witty lyrics. For a *Porter* collection, that's a considerable disappointment, and especially so, seeing the liner notes themselves set you up for that: "[Porter's] comic opuses like "It's Delovely" and "Let's Do it" exploit the lyricist's idea to tell topical jokes in rhyming patterns and exaggerated language, but at the same time they're wholly dependent on Porter the melodist to propel them with a catchy rhythmic motif." [liner notes, pg. 4] Well, it's would great to have to chance to hear that, but you won't with this CD. Not only is Rollins' "It's Delovely" instrumental, the other song they offer us as a choice example of Porter's comical lyricisms isn't even on this CD.



The other thing that boggles my mind is that there's no clear logic to how they selected these particular tracks. Some of the vocal tracks are very short, and don't give you a chance to ingest their Porterness. For example, Horne's "From This Moment On" and Clooney's "You Do Something to Me" both clock in under 2 minutes (compare that to Rollins' lyricless track that nearly 7 minutes long). I fear the tacks on here are so more because these were the ones the CD compliers' were able to get rights for, more than being ideal representations of Porters' songs.



I'll give it 2 stars because the preformances aren't bad in and of themselves, but regrettably, if you're looking for that one CD that'll scratch that distinctly Porter itch, I doubt this will be the one. It certainly isn't for me."

It's De Lovely-The Authentic Cole Porter Collection

Mary A. Grande | Sykesville, Md. | 08/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I got chills when I heard this cd for the first time and the thrills did not stop until the last number. It had been years since I had experienced the old masters playing authentic music rather than the many remakes and retakes we have today. Does anyone today use brushes on a snare---fantastic sound. And hearing Lena Horne in her prime--an extra bonus.



What a musical treat this is!!!"